


Pulse

by pilindiel



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, character introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 12:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11440896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilindiel/pseuds/pilindiel
Summary: “Nobodies like me are only half a person,” she explains and it’s almost become like a mantra to her since she’s said it so many times, “Nothing more. We don’t have hearts, remember?”He knows what she’s going to say so walks towards her, stopping until there’s barely a foot between them.“You don’t still believe that.”He’s searching her face and as he speaks Naminé makes the mistake of catching his brilliantly blue eyes that bore into hers with such deep concern. She wonders what she ever did to deserve it. She stays silent, long enough for it to answer his question, and he sighs.“Let me see your hand.”





	Pulse

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2013 on queenminniemouse.tumblr.com

It’s quiet in the little room the Nobody has created for herself. Kairi’s heart is very different from Sora’s, and Naminé the witch was able to recreate the mostly white room she spent the majority of her life in. She still sketches here as she did there, drawing inspiration from the beautiful memories Kairi has. They’re always bright and vibrant, and Naminé enjoys depicting them with her crayons and pencils. She has a wide assortment of utensils at her disposal, but she finds herself getting lonely more often than not. She stopped caring long ago about how many pictures she leaves scattered on the floor. No one comes to visit her anyway, save the occasional appearances of Kairi, which are always very welcomed.

But Kairi and Lea were training last she had seen, so she isn’t expecting anyone to bother her. Though, she honestly wishes someone would. She doesn’t have a heart, so emotions are also out, but something similar to boredom and loneliness often plague her here. She is usually fit to see life through Kairi’s eyes, but training is something she isn’t too fond of watching, (after all, Kairi is much more determined than Lea is anyway,) so she secludes herself to sit and draw.

Sora, Donald and Goofy are off looking for the remaining Princesses of Heart and various other lights, but Riku and the King seem charged with the even more dangerous task of rescuing past Keyblade bearers to aid in their fight against Xehanort. Last she, or rather  _Kairi_ , heard, they were in a sleeping world. They were off on worlds that deal with darkness and magic and things a Nobody like her shouldn’t understand. But she does anyway, and she worries, though it is most likely residual emotions from Kairi and not her own.

Naminé is a Nobody. An empty shell. And returning to Kairi has not changed that fact.

She hears a muffled step on the floor and terribly confused, looks up.

“Naminé…?”

The silver headed teen says her name like it’s precious, like he can’t believe she’s really here, and it catches her off guard, nearly causing her to drop her sketchbook as she stands. This isn’t a place he should be and yet he’s here, short hair and all, his light blue eyes shining in the white of the room she’s drawing in. It mirrors her room back in Twilight Town, minus the windows, and Riku seems to fit there, standing in front of her in his white shirt and blue jeans.

He always seems to fit with her.

“Riku. It’s wonderful to see you,” she says softly, her smile just as light as her voice. She has no idea why he’s here or what he’s doing. She can only guess, and as she tells him her thoughts, it’s clear that she’s right. By some happenstance or another, the dream world the Keyblade Master found himself in connected his heart to Kairi’s. It happened to Sora when he traversed the dream worlds, so it makes sense that it would happen again.

“You’re just passing through…” He would never come here willingly, of course. Who would? And even now that he’s here, it’s only because of his connection to Kairi and not to her Nobody. After all, Naminé doesn’t have a heart to connect to in the first place. Something sits uncomfortably in Naminé’s chest, clawing it’s way to her stomach and she wonders if this is what disappointment feels like. He must see it, because he stutters and takes a step towards her, blurting out his words.

“But there’s something I wanted to tell you,” he says. It comes out in a rush, much like how Sora acts when he gets flustered, and Naminé smiles despite herself. Although he’s been through much, he’s still just a teenager and there’s a slight flush to his cheeks to accentuate the fact. Riku’s saved worlds and conquered all sorts of foes and yet he still has trouble talking to girls. At least in this case, a shell of one. In essence he’s still just a teenager, something Naminé wishes she could be.

“We’re close to getting Aqua back,” he tells her, returning to his normal cadence, “And Ventus, too.”

“That’s great news!” she says with genuine excitement, or as much as she can muster without a heart. But a nagging thought pokes at the back of her mind. Why tell  _her_  before his friends? As amazing as the news is, wouldn’t it be more pertinent to tell them first?

“If we can get Ventus freed from Sora’s heart, then we can probably release Roxas and Xion…”

“Riku – ”

“Which means,” he continues, “We can get you out, too.”

Naminé grips her hands tightly in front of her and she looks down at her shoes. She feels so small. So unworthy.

“Nobodies like me are only half a person,” she explains and it’s almost become like a mantra to her since she’s said it so many times, “Nothing more. We don’t have hearts, remember?”

He knows what she’s going to say so walks towards her, stopping until there’s barely a foot between them.

“You don’t still believe that.”

He’s searching her face and as he speaks Naminé makes the mistake of catching his brilliantly blue eyes that bore into hers with such deep concern. She wonders what she ever did to deserve it. She stays silent, long enough for it to answer his question, and he sighs.

“Let me see your hand.”

Naminé complies, though more than a little bewildered at the odd request. Slowly, as if not to scare her, the Keyblade Master gently takes her hand and turns it, palm up. His hands are coarse from battle but the Nobody just watches with a neutral expression as he takes two fingers and applies only the slightest bit of pressure to her wrist, his other hand underneath her own for support. She can’t meet his gaze.

“Naminé…” he whispers, and it’s so soft that she isn’t sure he meant to say it.

He’s never called her Kairi, she realizes: he’s never mistaken her for the person she’s supposed to be, even when they first met. And she’s never been able to  _make_  him think that she was anything important, unlike Sora and the poor Replica. He has always had a choice when dealing with her, spending time with her and talking to her, and it’s never been more apparent to the poor shell until now, with his hand gently holding hers and his fingers gently measuring a heartbeat that shouldn’t exist. She knows what he’s going to say. She knew it from the moment he first took her hand and yet nothing she tells herself braces her for the actual words.

She wonders if he can feel the race of the heart she isn’t supposed to have.

“You have a strong pulse for someone who doesn’t have a heart,” he says with only the smallest hint of a smile. It’s broken and Naminé would wonder what broke it if she didn’t already know from his memories and what she’s witnessed, but it’s still beautiful.

She wants to tell him that hearts are more than a pulse, that there is no possible way she can have a heart, even though she knows full well that Nobodies can grow an imitation one over time. She wants to tell him that she is a witch and that a heart is something she doesn’t deserve for all the harm she’s caused. She wants to tell him he’s  _mistaken_ , but his hand moves to cup hers more, his movements soft as if she were made of glass. His grip tightens only just as his other hand moves to cover her own and she can feel the warmth and strength from it. Any retort she had quickly dies with the fluttering of the heart in her chest that shouldn’t even be there.

She doesn’t deserve his words or his compassion. She doesn’t know how to deal with it or why he says them to  _her_  when Xion and Roxas are so much more than she could ever be and she doesn’t understand why he’s so gentle and kind to her even though she broke his best friend nearly two years ago. But for once, selfishly, she doesn’t care. Because this is  _Riku._  And the silence they share is comfortable. And the look he is giving her is so genuine and isn’t something he’s ever shown to Kairi. This is something that is Naminé’s, and Naminé’s alone.

He finally loosens his grip on her hand after a while and she holds her hand to her chest, still feeling his heat as it slowly fades away in the cold of the room she’s created for herself. He stands there for a moment, looking down at her, and Naminé purposefully doesn’t meet his gaze. She’s afraid. She doesn’t want to know what he’s thinking, and looking in his brilliant eyes will certainly give it away. The Keyblade Master hesitates for a moment, then turns.

The Nobody’s gaze rises from the ground to his back and as he walks she takes a step forward, the question out of her mouth before she can fully process what she is saying.

“Why did you come  _here_ , Riku?” Surely he could have connected more abruptly to Kairi’s heart if he wanted or left before their conversation escalated. She tells herself that there is no reason for him to be here, because if there is, it would only be for her. And Naminé doesn’t deserve that.

He whips around at the sound of her timid voice and for a moment her heart catches in her throat. He looks at her softly, not with pity but with kindness, always kindness, and his smile is wider now. More honest. He doesn’t talk down to her, (he never has,) and for once in her life, Naminé wishes that she were a real person so she could fully embrace this moment as much as she foolishly wants to.

“Because you matter, Naminé. You deserve to be your own person, just like everyone else.”

She isn’t sure if she should stay put with the admission or if she should tell him he’s wrong or if she should run to him and wrap her tiny arms around him, shaking and sobbing because no one has ever told her that or said her name like that or made her  _feel_  like that. But she stays put and her eyes flick down to the unfinished drawing in her sketchbook that she was working on before he came in. She wants to believe that he’s right. She wants to believe that they’ll get her out just as easily as he believes it and he’s so honest and so sincere that she almost does.

Almost.

She looks back up at him and she smiles meagerly. He can tell that she doesn’t believe a word and she knows he can tell, but the smile is there, so she takes a breath.

“Thank you, Riku,” she says, and she hopes that it’s as sincere as she feels, even though he can tell almost nothing he said got through to her. Rather than leaving as she thought he stands, resolute, and his bright, sky-blue eyes pierce her like an arrow.

“I’ll get you out of here, Naminé. I promise.”

But before she can say anything he’s gone, disappeared through the same means that brought him to her. Carefully, Naminé bends down and wipes imaginary dirt off the page of her book, taking it back to her table and assortments of pencils, crayons and markers. She picks up the silver she was using before and puts the utensil to paper.

Her hands are shaking, she realizes as she tries to color, and her eyes are misty and unfocused. She uneasily puts the paper and crayon down just as her throat tightens uncomfortably and her eyes burn with tears. Shoulders shaking, Naminé buries her face in her palms as quiet sobs wrack through her body.

_You have to have a heart to cry,_  Sora’s words echo in her head, a memory from when he confronted Braig and Xemnas.

And Naminé almost believes it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to get all my older stories gathered together in one place so I don't have to sift through my old files.
> 
> Expect about three more after this - another Namiku, a Victuuri, and a YJ Jeanmarco AU


End file.
